Red Winged Blackbird

[John Mack]

This image was created at Montezuma national wildlife refuge in Tyre, New York on 5/5/18 at 6:28AM. Image adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Hand held, Full frame.

Canon 5D MarkIV
Sigma 150-600 Contemporary
600mm
ISO 3200
f8.0
1/640sec

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi John, I've come back a few times to this which I must admit is rare, but I've tried too sum up things from my perspective. I'm trying to be constructive here, albeit making certain assumptions along the way. :S3:

Overall I like the thinking and the moment you have capture, the 'wispy perch', plus the overall colour palette however...

- I find it all a bit cramped in terms of framing, I feel you need to zoom out a bit more to give the subject space to breath, by all means frame in camera which is right, but give yourself 10-15% extra all round for that final crop. Like your deer images, frame the subject then step back a few meter, this may help you.
- HH at 1/640 not sure, albeit the legs/feet look sharp at this size. ISO 3200 is a breeze for the MKIV, I would try setting your SS & aperture to what you want then set to Auto ISO. Don't be afraid of ISO John.
- F/8 I'm surprised at the sudden tail off of the DoF, if you look at the feet and the feathers to the RHS there is no 'real' detail, clarity or sharpness, I get the impression the bird is slightly angler away from you, but the wing feathers do the same, either more DoF, backing off in terms of distance.
- At 6.28am the light should be, I feel, soft and sweet like the BKG, but it appears on the subject a wee bit harsh?
- Blacks also appear a tad heavy, not blocked (choked/clipped), again not ideal but slightly lifting the shadows brings back detail. Hard to know what option based on this, the RAW is the easy way.

This has a lot of potential John, just take your time, maybe do the overnight test and just hone some of the final details like the perch, it will pay you.

TFS
Steve

[John Mack]

Hey Steve, Thanks for the detailed critique. I thought this was tight when i first looked at it in Lightroom. Figured i would let others see what they thought. Yes the bird is angled slightly away from me. These birds sway and bob when they are on these delicate perches.